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Something has got to give in North America, car prices have inflated but public transit costs and ridership in cities is at risk of a "death spiral", and there'

Something has got to give in North America, car prices have inflated but public transit costs and ridership in cities is at risk of a "death spiral", and there's a lot of people who can't afford the first who are going to be screwed by the second. The same white collar workers that can afford the price of a new EV and have a place to charge it, are doing WFH now; they were also the same people doing daily commutes and paying into public transit which made it cheaper for everyone.

olivermarks 4y ago
This video suggests a great many US used car dealers are going to go under soon. https://youtu.be/rGWZSEPGt1E https://youtu.be/rGWZSEPGt1E Higher interest rates for dealers and buyers, decreasing price market adjustments coupled with increasing interest rates on held inventory which aren't selling. American Car Center went bust last week. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-25/subprime-auto-lender-american-car-center-closes-for-business https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-25/subprime-... It will be harder to sell EV startup products in a down economy especially if lavish public fund (ie your tax money) subsidizations of purchase are removed.
ThunderSizzle 4y ago
This highlights a critical issue with public transit (in US cities I have lived in) - they only optimized/work for work commutes, if they work at all. There's alot more to life than commuting to and from work, and public transit needs to account for that.
- lasermatts 4y ago
  once more the ghost of Robert Moses haunts American infrastructure (shameless plug for people to read Robert Caro's _The Power Broker_)
- nradov 4y ago
  Even when I was commuting to a downtown office I seldom went straight between home and office. Most days I had at least one other stop for school drop-off, gym, club meetings, shopping, etc. This alone made public transit completely unusable. It just wasn't possible to get where I needed to go within the fixed time constraints I had.

olivermarks 4y ago

This video suggests a great many US used car dealers are going to go under soon. https://youtu.be/rGWZSEPGt1E https://youtu.be/rGWZSEPGt1E Higher interest rates for dealers and buyers, decreasing price market adjustments coupled with increasing interest rates on held inventory which aren't selling. American Car Center went bust last week. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-25/subprime-auto-lender-american-car-center-closes-for-business https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-25/subprime-... It will be harder to sell EV startup products in a down economy especially if lavish public fund (ie your tax money) subsidizations of purchase are removed.

ThunderSizzle 4y ago

This highlights a critical issue with public transit (in US cities I have lived in) - they only optimized/work for work commutes, if they work at all. There's alot more to life than commuting to and from work, and public transit needs to account for that.

lasermatts 4y ago
once more the ghost of Robert Moses haunts American infrastructure (shameless plug for people to read Robert Caro's _The Power Broker_)
nradov 4y ago
Even when I was commuting to a downtown office I seldom went straight between home and office. Most days I had at least one other stop for school drop-off, gym, club meetings, shopping, etc. This alone made public transit completely unusable. It just wasn't possible to get where I needed to go within the fixed time constraints I had.